


Things Come Together

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s06e21 Things Fall Apart, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-08-18
Updated: 2007-08-18
Packaged: 2019-05-31 03:48:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15111173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: "I came to say goodbye."





	Things Come Together

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

  
Author's notes: I was on a break from work today, huddled under an umbrella when attacked by this persistent plot nugget. This is not hy usual CJ and Leo but I loved writing them.  


* * *

It started to drizzle as CJ got out of the cab in front of her building. While riding from the White House to home the Chief of Staff thought about getting a new car. She loved her baby but the repair fees and problems it was having were plentiful. It just didn’t seem worth it…CJ knew with a heavy heart that the time had come. 

She noticed the person sitting on her steps when the cab pulled up. He wore a pair of khakis, a light blue Polo shirt and a khaki cap. He stood from the steps when the rain fell a bit steadier, CJ noticed he had a bottle of water. A few steps closer, recognition came across her face and she held up her hand in a wave.

“What are you doing here?”

“Lets go inside out of the rain.” He said.

CJ shrugged, unlocking the door. She grabbed the ridiculous amount of mail from her box, knowing the vast majority of it was junk. They got onto the elevator, went up three floors, and into her condo. Still they didn’t speak. CJ put her purse and briefcase down in front of the closet. The silence was not awkward and strangely neither was the situation. Not that CJ Cregg frequently came home to find men waiting on her stoop. Not that Leo McGarry had ever been in her house.

“I came to say goodbye.” He said.

“Don’t say that to me Leo McGarry.” Her eyes blazed when she said it and CJ was surprised by the distress in her voice when she spoke. “Don’t you ever say goodbye to me.”

The AC was on but that was not what caused her to shiver. She thought of visiting him in the hospital, gray with sickness. CJ cried despite herself…the warmth of the hand she held being of little comfort. Everyday she was there to talk to him though the doctors had him heavily sedated for the first 72 hours after the bypass surgery. The nurses got to know her well and she was allowed in to see him way after visiting hours were over.

He would come to every once in a while, looking but not quite seeing her. He heard her voice though, and his mind wondered how she could be there to read everything from the Washington Post and Time, to some article about Bernie Taupin and Elton John. How did she find the time she did for him and be the White House Chief of Staff? Though lots of people visited while he recovered, Leo would only admit to himself that he always hoped it was CJ that would be there when he opened his eyes. 

She would eat the dinners he never could, and coax him into drinking the supplemental shakes the nurses left for him. She went with Margaret to the Watergate and brought comfortable things from home to make his hospital stay tolerable. Even when he returned to the solitude of his hotel suite, she still came around. Though the Oval Office was his first visit when he was well enough to travel to the White House, her office was next. 

They enjoyed many moments together as he walked her through the thorny bushes of being White House Chief of Staff to an ailing President in the midst of domestic and foreign crises. Though neither said it, they would not have survived without the other. The time they spent in each other’s company became about more than the job.

“I didn’t mean it like that Claude.”

Heat, coursing through her bloodstream, replaced the chill when he put his hands on her shoulders.

“How did you mean it?”

“I'm going to San Diego. The President wants me to save the Convention.”

“No offense but I'm not sure that John the Baptist could.”

“Yeah, he definitely could. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do though. He wants me to go out there and do the Leo McGarry thing. Sometimes I get tired of doing the Leo McGarry thing. I'm doing this for the President…it will be my last act for the party.”

“OK.”

“I just wanted to stop by and let you know I was leaving. You guys will be coming out too but I'm going ahead.”

“Is Santos going to fall on the sword and be Russell’s Vice-President?” she asked.

“What do you think? Can I stay tonight?”

“I'm sorry?” CJ cleared her throat.

“Can I stay here with you tonight?” his arms easily slid around her slender waist. Pulling her closer, a fragrance that he found sexy and familiar filled his atmosphere and made him dizzy. Maybe it wasn’t the perfume, but the enormity of what he was asking that made him dizzy. “Claudia Jean…”

“Leo…”

She cut him off but found herself speechless. What exactly was he asking? What did she want him to be asking?

“I don’t know if you want me; I could be making a total ass of myself. I'm broken now and getting on in age but…”

She cut him off with a blistering kiss. It had been a long time since she kissed a man; Ben was the last. It had been nothing like this…this was soft, tender, but intense. CJ felt as if a mighty wind came into the room and though she’d initiated it, in only a matter a moments she yielded to his tongue. It brushed the roof of her mouth and CJ moaned. Without warning Leo stopped and pulled away from her. His hazel eyes watched her wantonly; she panted a bit and her mouth was open with a look of absolute shock. A rosy flush started at her shoulders and went to the tips of her ears.

“My plane leaves tomorrow morning at 10am.” He said, wondering where that tidbit of information came from.

“Then you better come to bed. You need to rest.”

“What I had on my mind, sorry to say, had nothing to do with sleep.”

CJ smiled, taking his hand, slipping out of her pumps and walking with him to her bedroom. In the lamplight she undressed him. Leo’s eyes were downcast as she got her first look at the bypass scar. It was horrendous but she touched it with delicate fingers before caressing it with the palm of her hand. Leo lost his breath at the contact.

“Its beautiful.” She said, tears in her voice.

“What? Its what? I don’t think…”

“You're alive Leo. It’s a testament to your survival and I will never see it as anything but. I will be able to touch it everyday; touch you. It beats a smooth chest in a casket by a mile.”

He kissed her, unbuttoning her blouse with easy fingers. The hook and zipper of her slacks were next and soon they stood in front of each other, he in boxers and she in a camisole and panties. In bed, they cuddled close together, arms around each other and CJ’s long leg draped over his. Leo had to catch his breath at her being so close…her skin touching his. 

The idea consumed his thoughts for months, maybe even longer. He couldn’t even pinpoint the moment but one morning Leo woke up and knew that he only wanted to be with her. Her breasts pressed against his chest as they kissed...they kissed forever. CJ lifted her arms as he released her from the camisole.

“You are the most beautiful woman I…damn.”

“Sweet talker.”

“I mean every word. Do you know when I first realized I loved you?”

She was taken aback by both the words and the question. Unable to form an answer, Leo kept talking.

“I was recovering, slowly losing my mind in that hotel suite. Lots of people came to see me but every time someone arrived I wanted it to be you. Every time the phone rang I wanted to hear your voice. I felt guilty for zoning out on Josh, Toby, and Sam. I felt guilty for not wanting to see them as much as I wanted to see you. As soon as I was well enough to come back to the White House you were the first face I wanted to see.”

“It was not one of my best days.” She replied.

“You handled it beautifully. You always do; it’s why I picked you.”

“I do not handle everything beautifully. Haiti…”

“Please.” Leo kissed away the bad memories. “We all have moments; we do not need to go back in time. I think the future holds so many amazing adventures.”

Leo turned on his back. He had not been able to sleep on his back since he sobered up, though sleeping and passing out were two different things. Now he slept that way most nights. He knew he would sleep like a baby with her in his arms.

“I love you too.” She whispered against him. “God, I never thought I would be able to say that. I wasn’t even sure what I feeling was real. I just…when Charlie told us you had a heart attack I felt so sick. I didn’t know what to do, but I guess none of us did. None of us knew how we would survive without you and we were too scared of the thought even to discuss it. It was, and is, hard because sometimes I’ll just start thinking about it and I want to reach out and grab you with both of my hands and hold on tighter than I've ever held onto anything. Death cannot have you yet Leo.”

“I'm here baby.” The feel of his hand stroking her back and the soft sound of that term of endearment soothed her. “I am going to be alright. I have a lot to live for. You know what?”

“What?”

“I um…”

“What Leo?” she sat up some.

“I really need to be with you tonight CJ. God, I don’t want you thinking that’s the only reason I came here tonight but haven’t you noticed lately that whenever we are together my hands are clasped behind my back. It’s all I could do not to declare myself and take you where you stood.”

“Are you alright?” her body moved, shifting on the bed as Leo moved over her. Why did being there with him feel like the most natural thing in the world?

“Of course I am. I'm…oh you mean…”

“Yeah.” She nodded as her hands once again found the scar.

It was not the only one on Leo’s chest but it certainly stood out from the shrapnel wounds he got in Vietnam, the few childhood scrapes mostly faded with time, and a 33-year-old appendectomy scar.

“I'm fine CJ. Sly Stallone I am not, but believe me when I tell you that I have more than enough energy to make love to you. If you want me.”

“Yes, of course I want you. I just…I had to ask that first.”

She knew he was ready. She could feel his erection as he released it from his boxers and freed her from her panties. Before CJ could even begin the embarrassing part of the encounter, the condom conversation, Leo told her that Jordan Kendall was the last woman he had slept with. He used a condom and he was clean. He still insisted on wearing a condom with CJ; it was the right thing to do. CJ hardly gave a shit though not because her sexual health was unimportant to her. Leo was stroking her clit the whole time he spoke and she came with a shudder and a small cry just as he asked her where she kept them.

She pointed feebly to the nightstand drawer and took the opportunity to recover when he put some distance between them. Their first time was slightly awkward in the sense that they were complete intimate strangers. Still, it was amazing. Knowing each other for almost a decade helped…there was a comfort level that surpassed the jitters. Leo was a considerate lover, taking the time to introduce himself to every inch of her body before succumbing to his overwhelming desire to be inside of her. It didn’t last forever, he was no longer a young man, but it was long enough to develop a fire in their stomachs that could no longer be concealed and would never extinguish.

Afterward, as he lay on top of her catching his breath, CJ held him close. She kissed him and inhaled the sweet scent of their lovemaking. The sweat, the desire, the longing, and her perfume…she wanted to bottle it.

“I love you.” She said it again; she never wanted to stop saying it.

“If I asked you to marry me, would you?”

He moved onto the mattress, taking her into his arms. Instinctually her hand went over his heart and she felt the beat returning to normal. CJ closed her eyes.

“Yes, but not until all of this is over.”

“What?”

“What?”

“Did you say...?”

“I said yes.”

“Why?”

CJ could not help but laugh. It was, firstly, a silly question considering the theme of the evening. Secondly, she never knew Leo to sound unsure of anything, especially himself.

“Because I never want to say goodbye to you. This past year has been eye opening for me in ways I cannot even describe. And I have to tell you that if you had not come here tonight I don’t know if I ever would have said.”

“I would’ve. It was getting harder for me to watch you walk away. I could be dead CJ, but I am not and I know there is a reason for that. There are things left for me to do here; people left for me to love. I want to make you as happy as you make me.”

“Done.”

***


End file.
